Although best known for their extra aged gouda, Oud Brugge, the Belgian cheese makers at Belgomilk are beginning to turn heads with Brugge Rodenbach. Brugge Rodenbach is a firm, sliceable cheese that is matured with Rodenbach's Flemish red ale.

Flemish red ales, sometimes called "sour reds," are a very different beast from the Irish red ales that are more familiar to American beer drinkers. Flemish reds are a variant of lambic beers, a family of beers fermented with wild yeasts. These yeasts give the beer a tart, puckering flavor with a characteristic sour cherry finish.

Soaked in the famous Belgian ale for 2 weeks, Rodenbach gives the young Brugge cheese a chestnut-colored rind and a deep, zesty flavor. It is remarkable how much flavor is absorbed through the rind of the cheese - without becoming overpowering. Brugge Rodenbach is the only semi-hard beer-ripened cheese created in this hard-won method by Belgomilk.